The conquests of 135 and 137 Pennsylvania Ave. are meager, witheach two-acre lot housing a small, aging commercial building.Stratouly's Congress Group paid just $2.45 million for 135Pennsylvania Ave., and is said to be spending about the same on 137Pennsylvania Ave. Given Stratouly's resume--even helping developBoston's $800-million convention center earlier thisdecade--speculation is rising over whether the Framingham goalsalso tilted on the super size. "People wonder what he's doing upthere," relays one source, describing a "buzz" circulating aboutthe maneuvers. Apparently, there is good reason for the clamor.

"It gives us a significant amount of acreage," Stratouly concursto GlobeSt.com, simultaneously acceding that his platform is "tobuild high," at least skyward enough to capture the same viewsafforded Bose Corp.'s headquarters one hillside behind. Besidesvistas of the MetroWest countryside, tenants will have exposure tomotorists traversing the Massachusetts Turnpike below, maintainsStratouly, as Bose adroitly does from its perch on the aptly namedMountain Road.

But Congress Group's manifest destiny on Pennsylvania Avenue hasyet to be sated, with the firm targeting the abutting InternationalPaper Co. property at 125 Pennsylvania Ave. That would provide sixacres and nearly double the turnpike frontage. IPC shuttered theplant and sold it to a Memphis company in January for $3.2 millionafter being there for decades. That company has reportedly retainedHank Amabile of Grubb & Ellis to sell the asset, although thebroker did not return a phone call.